Opposition members were elected as the mayors and deputies of the three city council’s in the Maldives.

Mayors and deputies were chosen through a secret vote, after taking their oaths of office on Saturday night.

While the oath taking ceremonies for the city council members were held on Saturday night, island and atoll council members were sworn in throughout the day. The Local Government Authority (LGA) had on Friday stated that the council members must be sworn in by 20:30 on Saturday.

The local government system was introduced in February 2011, stating that city status can only be given to districts, islands or areas with a population over 25,000. An amendment to the Decentralization Act, passed in 2015, lowered the minimum population threshold to 10,000.

Fuvahmulah City

Abdulla Falah Shareef, a candidate of the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) was elected as the first-ever mayor of Fuvahmulah City. Mohamed Sirar, also from MDP, was elected as his deputy.

Fuvahmulah City has a total of three council members, third being Hamad Abdulla from the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM).

President Abdulla Yameen declared Fuvahmulah a city back in September 2016, ahead of the local council elections which were then scheduled for January 14. However, it was held on May 6, after being delayed thrice.

According to the President’s Office, President Yameen has designated that the Fuvahmulah City council “will get equivalent authorities as Malé City Council and Addu City Council”.

Addu City

Abdulla “Sobe” Sodiq was elected for a third consecutive term as mayor on Saturday night, while Mohamed Yasrif was elected as his deputy.

There are seven council members in the Addu City Council including Sodiq, Yasrif, Ali Fahmy, Ibrahim Shukuree, Hussain Hiyaz, Faisal Ibrahim and Jamsheeda Mohamed.

RaajjeMV understands that the four members had voted in favor of both Sodiq and Yasrif.

Malé City

For the first time ever, a woman has been elected as the mayor of Malé City, as well as Maldives.

MDP’s Sifa Mohamed was elected in a secret vote after the oath taking ceremony held at Ghiyaasudheen School on Saturday night. Shamaru Shareef was appointed as the deputy mayor.

11 members voted in favor of Sifa with one against and one invalid, while 12 members voted in favor of Shamau Shareef, with only one vote against.

Malé City Council consist of 13 members; Sifa, Shamau, Adam Shareef, Ahmed Niyaz, Ibrahim Manik, Mohamed Fishaavin Saleem, Shaheem Mahmood, Mohamed Rasheed, Ahmed Zameer, Mohamed Fazeen, Azra Moosa, Hussain Shareef and Hamna Waheed.  

Except for one, Malé City council consists of MDP members. Fishaavin is a member of Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), which recently formed a coalition with President Yameen’s faction of the ruling party.